denon dcm380 (1 Viewer)

[Ben_Wang]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has heard the denon dcm380 cd player and can comment on it's audio quality. I'm wondering if it's any better or worse than the older dcm370 as well as how well it compares to something like the nad 541i or 521i.

Thanks!

 

[KeithH]

Ben, I've read no reviews of the '380. It looks very similar to the '370 on paper. I've seen them side by side, and they look similar. As I recall, Denon added MP3 playback to the '380, but I'm not sure they changed much else. Based on the reputation of the NAD C 541i, I would be very surprised if the Denon '380 was as good.

 

[Ben_Wang]

I think they use a different DAC than before. It's the burr brown pcm1748 which is a 24bit 96khz dac, which is apparently set to run in 20bit 44.1khz mode. I don't know if it will sound better or worse. I also hope they fixed the headphone problem where it affects the output quality which the dcm370 had.

 

[KeithH]

Ben, since the '380 can decode MP3s, I would think that Denon would have had to incorporate a different DAC. Note that the '370 has HDCD decoding, so it can process the 20-bit information on an HDCD-encoded disc. Both players handle standard CDs in 16/44.1 mode (i.e., no upsampling).